I have been traveling the world as a journalist and passionate lover of all things fun for 20 years. I have had weekly columns in USA Today and Investors Business Daily, published thousands of articles in leading magazines from Playboy to Popular Science, and am the author of Getting Into Guinness. I am the Contributing Travel Editor for Cigar Aficionado Magazine, the restaurant columnist for USAToday.com, and am a co-founder of TheAPosition.com, the leading golf travel website. I love every kind of travel, active, cultural and leisurely, and my special areas of expertise are luxury hotels and resorts, golf, skiing, food, wine and spirits. I tweet @TravelFoodGuy

Bag It: Got a commuter on your list? Ortlieb is a German company specializing in all things bags with the same kind of obsessive precision engineering that makes people love Porsches. Everything in the line is waterproof, from over-the-shoulder messenger bags with available laptop inserts to cargo rack panniers, trunk bags, backpacks and biker friendly bags in every shape and size for protecting electronics, documents, clothing, whatever you need to keep totally dry. They also make duffel bags, camera bags, canoeing bags and motorcycle luggage – all totally waterproof.

There is no reason not to use Road ID. It's that simple.

Road ID: “If you can’t speak for yourself, your Road ID will.” A simple but ultra-personalized gift, used by pros like Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie, it’s a bracelet with engraved metal tag that identifies the rider in case of an accident, since many ride without wallets or other ID. It can also showcase blood type or special medical conditions. An optional 24-hour hotline service maintains additional emergency contacts and medical info (free for first year, $10 annually after). Besides the basic Wrist ID Sport (Velcro), there is Wrist ID Elite (watchband clasp), Wrist ID Slim (thinner band), a dog tag style (Fixx ID), ankle style, models that attach to running shoes (Shoe ID) and even ones for dogs (Scout ID). From $15-$30, with up to six lines of engraving. My favorite part? Unlike most internet retailers, they don’t sucker punch you on shipping and handling, just $1.49 for almost any order.

When thieves mean business, so should your bike lock.

Keep It Safe: Chances are that whatever kind of bike the recipient on your gift list has, they want to keep it. That makes few presents more practical than Blackburn’s Sing Sing advanced technology U-Lock ($70). Named after New York’s infamous death row prison, the company guarantees (up to $2500) that they are theft proof – and not a single person has acted on that guarantee to date. Innovation that sets Blackburn’s U-Locks apart include features like dual bolt lock mechanisms, hexagonal shackles that require double the effort to breach, and a key mechanism impervious to picks.

WD-40 Bike: You probably used WD-40, the classic handyman’s all-purpose lubricant on your first bike – I know I did – long before there were bike specific-products. Now the company that started it all has caught up, with a brand new (in shops winter 2012) line of high-tech bike care products, including chain lube, degreaser, foaming wash, frame protectant. It’s not sexy, but your favorite cyclist needs to take care of his or her toys, and the five core products make a nice gift basket – which will actually get used.

Warm and Dry With Endura: No one knows more about enjoying the great outdoors in crappy weather than the Scottish, who developed the Endura line of harsh condition riding gear. Serious fitness riders who work out even in bad weather will love it, but bike commuters NEED it – and you can never have too much clothing. As they say in the outdoor trade, this stuff is absolutely bombproof, a very complete line of waterproof jackets, pants, vests, knickers and more, in various levels of warmth and windproofing. Waterproof over-pants start at around $75, jackets at around $110. It’s classy too – think

It's waterproof, rugged and Scottish - must be Endura's line of foul weather bike clothing.

of it as Barbour hunting clothes for cyclists – all cyclists, mountain, road, cross, whatever, they make it.

Mountain Biker Tech Toy: In a perfect world mountain bikers would change the height of their saddle for different types of terrain. In the real world this has been physically impractical – until now. The Command Post Blacklite from Specialized is a remote-controlled automatically adjustable seat post with three preset heights. This is crazy cool, it’s hard to imagine the mountain biker who wouldn’t love one, and the type of upgrade that makes you wonder why it took so long to invent ($275).

Road Performance: Any avid road cyclist uses bike specific shoes with their clip-in pedals, and it doesn’t get any better than these, Specialized’s top of the line pro S-Works collection. They feature the Boa internal lacing system, cables controlled by dials, for perfect fit and snugness that never comes loose, much more secure and precise than Velcro straps and with no ratcheting teeth to wear out. The new 2013 model is even lighter, and they were always superlight. It has a super stiff carbon sole, is well ventilated and fits all major cleat systems. I wear a 2012 pair and wouldn’t go back to any previous shoes ($400).

Novice Upgrade – or Spin Class: Many casual riders or new cyclists resist clip-in pedals because they don’t know how to use them, are intimidated, don’t want to walk around hobbling in weird looking shoes with cleats on the bottom or simply don’t want to spend several hundred dollars extra on new

The S-Works road shoe is the best I've ever used.

pedals and special shoes. But there is no doubt that this is the single biggest performance and efficiency upgrade you can make to almost any bike. Industry leader Shimano, the high-end component and accessory giant, solves this dilemma with its new 2013 Click’R shoes and pedals. Outside Magazine named it a Best of Interbike (the industry’s big trade show) pick for 2013. At just around $160 for the set, they combine highly walkable shoes with a pedal interface that reduces effort to get in and out by over 60%. The ultimate commuting performance upgrade was designed to be efficient while pedaling, comfortable off the bike, and easy to use. These are also perfect for gym-based biking classes.

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